Psychological distress, help-seeking, and perceived barriers to psychological treatment among Australian parents
Open accessAbstract
ObjectiveParental psychological distress is an influential predictor of maladaptive parenting practices, negative outcomes in children, and poorer outcomes of parenting programs. Despite these negative outcomes, treatment engagement among parents appears to be low. This study aimed to explore Australian parents’ history of help‐seeking behaviour and perceived barriers to psychological treatment for their own and their children's psychological wellbeing.MethodA sample of 2,555 Australian parents completed an online survey exploring psychological distress, help‐seeking, perceived barriers to treatment for parents and their children, and interest in an online parental wellbeing course.ResultsParents reported high levels of personal psychological distress (70.4% in the moderate to very high ranges) and high rates of emotional and behavioural difficulties in their children (34.2% in abnormal range). Parents were more likely to seek informal types of help‐seeking, such as advice from family and friends. They were less likely to enlist formal types of help seeking, such as psychotherapy. The most commonly endorsed barriers to seeking treatment for parents and their children included lack of time and money and the belief that mental health difficulties were insufficient to warrant treatment. However, parents expressed a high level of interest in a free online parental wellbeing course.ConclusionThe findings highlight the need for effective and accessible psychological treatments to target the psychological wellbeing of parents and their dependent children. Early evidence suggests that an online parental wellbeing course may offer an acceptable alternative to face‐to‐face treatment that may overcome many barriers reported in this study.
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Time burden is a common help-seeking barrier.
“Few parents reported that the program was burdensome; however, their qualitative comments were valuable, particularly highlighting the time burden, which is a common help-seeking barrier [71].”
From Providing psychological support to parents of childhood cancer survivors: ‘cascade’ intervention trial results and lessons for the future (2021) · cites this paper as [71]
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- Authors
- Tapp, B., Gandy, M., Fogliati, V. J., Karin, E., Fogliati, R. J., Newall, C., Mclellan, L., Titov, N., & Dear, B. F.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- eCentreClinic, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia,
- Corresponding author
- Gandy, Milena
- ORCID
- Venue
- Australian Journal of Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-06-01
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 113-121
- ISSN
- 0004-9530 (ISSN-L)
- 1742-9536
- OpenAlex
- W2733644290
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 2.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Australian Journal of Psychology (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Macquarie University Fellowship
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Keywords
- parental psychological distress, help-seeking, parents, informal help-seeking, psychotherapy, treatment engagement, mental health help-seeking
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